Family is Family
by Kiri Kaitou Clover
Summary: Krolia asks Keith about Lance and is finally told that Flames exist when her son somehow bursts into a blaze when he bonds with a space wolf. (Or Krolia and Keith have no idea how to have a heart to heart so they just... talk?) [Part 7 of VLD Flames AU]


**This was supposed to be done months ago and I only complete it three weeks after VLD Season 7 is out. No season 7 spoilers yet. I have NOT watched it at this point in time for reasons. But anyways this entry follows up the video call Keith has with Lance in part 6. Just... Awkward Clouds I guess?**

* * *

"Who was that?"

Keith yelped as his mother... his mother, snuck up behind him. His mother who he never expected to meet, never expected to still be alive, never expected to travel with...

"My boyfriend," Keith mumbled after he calmed down.

"Do you normally contact each other like this? Has Earth really advanced this far?" His mother asked.

Keith shook his head, "No, not really."

"Then...?" She looked at him in confusion.

"He's one of the Paladins," Keith said, watching as a look of understanding dawned on her face.

"You've been keeping contact with the Paladins this entire time," She stated, surprised at his dedication, "Even though your work as a Blade meant that you'd be out of contact frequently."

"I promised them I would try and keep them updated on what was going on," Keith muttered, turning his attention back to piloting the ship. "They're my family after all. But more importantly, it hurts, staying away, so Lance and I worked around that by calling each other every time something major happened to us."

His mother simply hummed before returning to her seat, keeping an eye on the map. Keith on the other hand was confused with himself. Why was he speaking this much? Why in the world had he settled so comfortably with talking to his mother? Did it have to do with her latent Flames he sensed? Flames that considered him part of her territory? Was it his own reacting to finding a thought to be lost family member?

He didn't get a chance to further contemplate much when they finally arrived at the quantum abyss and their ship lost to it after being attacked.

He didn't dare ask more than he had to as the waves of light revealed glimpses of the past and future to both him and his mother. How his mother and why his mother ended up on Earth, and why she had left him and his father in the end. He didn't dare speak his worries that he wouldn't make it back to the rest of the Paladins in time.

...

He didn't expect his mother to be the one to ask questions. Nor did he expect to find himself glad to answer them.

* * *

Krolia hadn't dared to hope when she had seen the dagger in the young human's hands the same human who looked so much like her love she had left on Earth. She knew that the worst had come to past when she saw the vision of the past, of her son looking down at a tombstone.

She blinked in shock as Keith burst into flames as he approached the wolf-like creature that had landed on the same behemoth they had. She had to stare in wide eyed wonder, as with each collapse of time, she watched a child Keith stare at beautiful red and purple flames that coated his hands while her love panicked and tried to explain to Keith what they were, her son injured but his eyes burning with those very same flames, and the first time her son and the man he called Shiro 'bonded'.

She finally decided to approach him one night, to ask, more about his life after she had left, and perhaps what her love had failed to tell her in their time together.

"Dad never told you about Flames?" her son blinked at her bewildered, the wolf curled up next to him as it slept.

"Despite what the visions may have showed you, I barely spent three years on Earth," Krolia sighed. "Most of that time was spent learning Earth's language well enough to speak to your father without a translator, as well as trying to locate the Blue Lion. Of course, I fell in love with your father in the process. But not once did he mention it."

Her son looked amused, "He wouldn't. Dad mostly stayed out of the Flame community despite being an Active user, which was a requirement to work in the Garrison in any case. He probably didn't think it was necessary."

She watched as her son's hand burst into Flame, red and purple blazing beautifully.

"Dad was a Storm, the red Flame. And like a storm the Flame's natural property was destructive, more specifically disintegration. Of course, Dad's nature didn't normally fit the stereotyped personality for those with Storm Flame, being calmer than most anyone," Keith said with a wistful tone, gently stroking the sleeping wolf.

"And the purple Flame?" Krolia asked.

"Cloud. Often attributed to drifters and loners, though there are many outliers, the Cloud Flame's properties involve propagation like an actual cloud. Clouds are also territorial with what is considered theirs," he said.

"Which is why you claimed the Paladins as family," She murmured softly.

"No. I claimed them as family because they became my family while we fought. I didn't even realise I considered them part of my territory until much later," Keith sighed. "Just like in spite of it having been your mission, you put Dad and mine own safety first."

"So... what is my Flame?" She was curious. Perhaps if she had spent more time on Earth, she would have found out long ago. Her son looked embarrassed. She wondered if it was the wrong question to ask.

"It's Cloud," Keith murmured, blushing and not looking at her in the eye.

That told her all she needed. Because if there was one thing she knew she was never giving up again, it would be her son.

(She had to wonder why her son and the wolf both spent so much time playing with his Flame after that though, and had to blink when the wolf burst into Cloud Flames all on its own. Keith on the other hand was happy when the wolf he had adopted into their family finally adapted to his Cloud Flames. The Box Animals were rare enough back on Earth thanks to the Arcobaleno Verde having only produced a small number before production halted. Flame using space animals though? Keith knew that Pidge was going to be jealous when he got back... if they ever did get back.)

* * *

 **SO. Yeah. That's it. I have what. Five more Season 6 shorts to write and more incoming with Season 7? I'm doomed.**


End file.
